The blog for CR Inside. Much talk about all things CR Inside...

One-Third of the World's Women in Prison Have One Striking Thing in Common

They're locked up in the United States. All 201,200 of them.

Brave New Films recently aired an educational short that claimed the following: Not only are a significant percentage of women pregnant when imprisoned, more than 70% are also the primary caregivers of at least two minors. This spells disaster for many families, as children of the incarcerated are systematically dumped into the notoriously problematic foster care system, or "other [similarly] unstable situations."

On top of which, children of incarcerated parents are five times more likely than their peers to commit crimes.

By Tom S. Hammack, Webmaster

We are proud to launch the new CR Inside Newsletter platform. We are excited to finally allow interaction between our followers and volunteers and the editors and staff. We think this change will bring a new level of information exchange to our following, and be a help to those who are (or feel called) to be involved in CR Inside to better keep up to date on happenings within this Ministry. Please be sure to check back often to see new content as it is added. You can also subscribe to updates from the blog to be notified when new posts are added by navigating to the bottom of the right hand menu on the blog pages in the 'Newsletter' section and entering your email address and clicking the 'Notify me' button. Please be assured we will never sell or otherwise use your email address for any purpose other than to send announcements about the CR Inside Ministry.

We are sure you have noticed things have changed quite a bit from the old CRI Newsletter interface, but know that the same people that were providing updates to the original site are now able to dynamically add content to this site to speed up the process of getting the word out about CR Inside around the country and around the world. This will help keep everyone more current on news, events, and other items for CR Inside.

Please be sure to check out the FAQ's Page to help you find your way around the new layouts and changes. Some things that were originally on the CRI newsletter site have been moved to our companion website at www.cr-inside.org. Please be sure to read over the FAQ's page for general questions and answers about CR Inside, and where to find things like the State Rep List and CR Inside Directory pages. For information from one of our Regional Editors or to send a general inquiry please email us at info@cr-inside.org. The Regional Editors will be monitoring this email account and will be following up for you on any requests.

If you cannot find what you are looking for on the new sites, or have a suggestion for a feature or added functionality, please feel free to send me an email at webmaster@cr-inside.org.

Thanks again for your interest and for being involved in the ministry of CR Inside. We hope the new CR Inside Newsletter gives you a better understanding of what motivates us to be God's hands and feet to the incarcerated, and provides the information, tools and support you need if you are currently (or feel called for) taking CR inside.

From the Editor

I am so amazed at the phenomenal growth we’ve achieved over the last couple of years and in the last year in particular; I’m amazed and grateful. Grateful to all of you for your support of this newsletter and the ministry to which we’ve been called.

When I first came on as editor in 2010, we had just over 2100 visitors and just over 40,000 hits. 2011 saw us double the visitors and triple the hits to 120,000, while 2012 doubled again, both visitors and hits. This year promises to surpass any expectations we’d have had, with 30,000 visitors to our site and close to A MILLION hits, so thank you.

We are proud to introduce our first group of Regional Editors. This is a wonderful and diverse group, with various backgrounds…some more in journalism, some in prison ministry, but all in recovery, and working on recovery. This is a move that Hector and I, as well as others have prayed over, and we believe that God will continue to bless our efforts if we will continue to be faithful in serving “the least of these” in prisons and jails, and their families. Be sure to read their bios, especially for those in your region, and feel free to contact them through this site. They want to hear from you.

From the Editor

Why indeed? For those of us who’ve participated in this ministry, we know the challenges of seeing folks struggle to make it in Step Study, struggle to complete their time, and struggle upon release. We’ve been discouraged by our brothers and sisters who volunteer with us who don’t stay committed. For many who don’t participate, it’s difficult to understand. Ninety years ago (March 1923) British mountain climber George Mallory was asked why he wanted to attempt to climb Mt Everest after failing to reach the summit twice before. “Because it’s there” was his reply, and that famous quote has gone on to represent many endeavors. On his fateful third attempt, as observers saw him get to within 1000 feet of the summit, he fell to his death; but we can also see, that he died trying. He never gave up.

In Philippians 4:14 Paul says, “I press on toward the goal…” and in verse 15 encourages us to do the same. And so, we continue to do what we do, “Because it’s there”; and for many, we feel blessed to serve, grateful for where God has brought us from, and hopeful for those whom we serve. How many times have you left the prison yard, or the jail, wondering who got more blessed? Yeah, I know that feeling. We don’t always get to see the fruits of our labor, but what a blessing when we do. Right now, I’m co-leading a step study at our church with a man who was a leader of two step studies inside.